Mind-Body Health – A Woman's Health – Women Magazinehttp://awomanshealth.com
A comprehensive health and wellness resource for womenTue, 12 Dec 2017 17:05:57 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.2Building a Foundation for Healthhttp://awomanshealth.com/building-a-foundation-for-health/
http://awomanshealth.com/building-a-foundation-for-health/#respondFri, 22 Sep 2017 06:01:40 +0000http://women.cancerconnect.com/?page_id=637Regardless of religious affiliation, most of us recognize that we have a deeper part of ourselves that needs our care and attention. Some may refer to it as spirit, soul, higher self, inner child, or countless other names. It doesn’t matter what you name it; what matters is that you acknowledge and nurture it.

We all know the basic recipe for health: eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep, limit our alcohol intake, and avoid tobacco and other drugs. Those things are important for maintaining physical and emotional health. But what about that part of yourself that is less tangible but needs just as much tender loving care?

Regardless of religious affiliation, most of us recognize that we have a deeper part of ourselves that needs our care and attention. Some may refer to it as “spirit,” “soul,” “higher self,” “inner child,” or countless other names. It doesn’t matter what you call it; what matters is that you acknowledge and nurture it.

What Is Spirituality?

Many people confuse spirituality and religion, but the two are not synonymous. Spirituality refers to an inner belief system that provides meaning, connection, and comfort. It may encompass a belief in immaterial reality such as God, a higher power, or some sort of universal connection with all that exists. Spirituality is an inner path that allows people to discover and develop their true essence and values.

Religion, on the other hand, typically refers to an organized system of shared beliefs, rituals, and practices. One need not subscribe to any form of organized religion to feel a deep sense of spirituality; however, many people do find a spiritual home within the context of organized religion.

Many people consider spirituality a way to connect with a sense of meaning and truth. Some people experience this in church, others in nature or through art, dance, music, or ritual. People with a spiritual foundation feel that their lives have meaning and value, and they develop deep, close relationships.

Benefits of Spirituality

Spirituality has been shown to offer many benefits, including improved mood and reduced anxiety, stress, and depression. Several studies have also reported a link between spirituality and happiness. Researchers from San Francisco State University found that money spent on experiences produced a greater sense of happiness than money spent on material objects.1 There may be a spiritual link to this phenomenon— experiences provide a sense of social connectedness and meaning that material objects simply cannot provide. We develop meaning through interaction and experiences, not things. While we may grow bored with a material object, we do not tend to grow bored with our happy memories.

Children intuitively understand this, as they thrive on strong interactions with family and friends. Researchers from the University of British Columbia found that children who had a strong sense of spirituality were happier.2 (Spirituality was defined as feeling that their lives had value and strong relationships.) Religious practices, in contrast, had little effect on happiness and self-worth.

Cultivating a Sense of Spirituality

Spirituality is a personal journey; there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Cultivating spirituality begins with fostering a sense of connection. The prevalence of technology and social media has provided a false sense of connection, and these things actually enable us to disconnect from our inner selves. Spirituality requires us to turn inward and examine what brings us joy and meaning. It’s a process of connecting with our deepest self.

Tools for Cultivating Spirituality

We think we’re so connected—social media, cell phones, e-mail, Skype—but we’re actually disconnected. These things take us out of ourselves. What takes you in to yourself? How do you connect with your spirit?

We each have an internal voice, but sometimes the world is so loud that we don’t hear it. To tune in to your deepest self, it’s important to carve out quiet time to breathe. Here are some suggestions for finding a way to connect with your deepest self:

Meditation. Research has shown that people who meditate have increased activity in the “feel good” area of the brain. It has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. There are several different types of meditation; find one that works for you and make it a daily practice.

Spend Time in Nature. The natural world is a soothing environment. Whether you take a walk in the woods or simply sit by a river or lake, spending time in nature is a proven way to alleviate stress and connect with your inner self. Smell the fresh air, listen to nature’s sound track, and feel the calm wash over you.

Join A Religious Organization. Some people find that the structure and the rituals of organized religion help them cultivate a deep sense of spirituality. The commitment to a weekly service can provide stability as well as community.

Keep A Journal. A daily practice of journaling provides an excellent outlet for emotions and also helps us develop an inner dialogue and uncover our true feelings, desires, and fears.

Practice Breathing. Most of us take breathing for granted. We take 15,000 to 20,000 breaths per day without giving it much thought. Unfortunately, we have become a society of shallow breathers, taking small breaths that reach only our chests instead of our diaphragms. Breathing deeply into the diaphragm triggers the relaxation response, allowing the heart rate to slow and the blood pressure to drop. Spend a few moments each day focused on your breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly and fully, and feel yourself slip into a calm, centered state.

Embrace Creativity. Creative expression is an outlet for our sorrow and joy. Paint, sing, sculpt, draw, write, or find some other avenue of expressing what is inside you. Delight in your unique self-expression.

Give. Volunteer your time, talent, or treasure or commit random acts of kindness. When we give to others, we feel a boost. Share a meal, a smile, a kind word, or any act of service and feel your spirits lift.

Pray. You don’t need to go to church to reap the benefits of prayer. There is no right or wrong way to pray. Simply get quiet and allow yourself to make a connection with something larger than yourself. Some people refer to prayer as “meditation with words.”

Sweat. Get out and move! Ride a bike, take a hike, or swim across a lake. Movement is an excellent way to find your center and allow energy to move through you.

Practice Gratitude. Keep a daily gratitude journal; each day list five things for which you are grateful. By counting our blessings, we become aware of how truly blessed we are.

Garden. Digging in the dirt is a surefire way to feel connected to the earth and yourself. Weeding a garden is a powerful metaphor for our lives—we pull weeds to allow for new growth.

Study. Seek solace in a spiritual text such as the Bible or any number of other inspirational tools for growth.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/building-a-foundation-for-health/feed/0Finding Peace and Quiet in a Noisy Worldhttp://awomanshealth.com/finding-peace-and-quiet-in-a-noisy-world/
http://awomanshealth.com/finding-peace-and-quiet-in-a-noisy-world/#respondThu, 03 Aug 2017 06:01:16 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=7297Noise can be as harmful as secondhand smoke

There are countless ways to take care of your physical and emotional health: nutrition, exercise, sleep, and self-care practices such as meditation provide a solid foundation for overall health. But what if we’ve overlooked a critical component of health—silence? This is not the hypothetical silence we experience during meditation; this is real silence— as in the absence of noise.

Silence is a rarity in our noisy world. In fact, it’s so rare that we may not even realize we’re missing it until we experience it. Noise invades our environment on so many levels. We’ve grown so accustomed to the hum of the refrigerator or the sound of a jet flying overhead that these noises often don’t even register on a conscious level. Other noises—like the drone of a leaf blower—are more irritating, but we accept them as part of our everyday environment.

But these noises are not a natural part of our environment, and we’re suffering as a result. We are being inundated by sound. Some of it is necessary, some of it is not, but all of it is leaving a lasting impact on our health.

What Is Noise?

The word noise is derived from the Latin word nauseas, which has been translated to mean disgust, discomfort, or seasickness. Let’s face it—noise is uncomfortable.

Sometimes we create the noise, for example by running the blender or mowing the lawn. Other times the noise is inflicted on us by outside factors in our environment; this is referred to as secondhand noise. All noise is harmful to our health, but secondhand noise is especially so because it is out of our control. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, secondhand noise can be as harmful as secondhand smoke.

Why Is Noise Harmful?

We process noise subconsciously. So whether or not we realize it, noise triggers a fight-or-flight response in our sympathetic nervous system. Even if we manage to tune it out or sleep through it, our subconscious is aware of it. Noise can have a litany of effects on our health. It raises blood pressure and heart rate and causes hormonal shifts that can result in anxiety, stress, nausea, headaches, mood swings, and more. Noise has been associated with cardiovascular disease, tinnitus, irritability, depression, and insomnia.

Noise leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.

Combatting Noise

Unfortunately, noise is an inevitable part of modern life, and it’s unrealistic to think that we can do away with it entirely; we can, however, take steps to mitigate our exposure to noise. Organizations such as Noise Free America, NoiseOFF, and the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse are working to educate consumers and legislators about the effects of noise. Some communities have gone so far as to pass noise ordinances. If you feel you are being exposed to excessive noise in your community, these organizations provide a number of resources for taking action. In the meantime there are numerous ways you can reduce your noise exposure:

Use noise preventive strategies in your home, such as double-pane windows and carpeting.

Disable the sounds you can live without, from the buzz of the dryer to the car-locking mechanism on your car and even the “ding” of your e-mail and text message alerts.

Shop for quiet appliances. Technology has come a long way, and many appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers now offer low-decibel ratings.

Choose muscle power when possible. Use a push lawnmower and a rake in lieu of a gas-powered lawnmower and a leaf blower.

Carry earplugs in your purse so you have them when you need them.

Take quiet time in wilderness areas to recharge. Consider a camping vacation over Disneyland and relish in the sound of silence.

Practice relaxation techniques to offset the anxiety caused by noise in your environment.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/finding-peace-and-quiet-in-a-noisy-world/feed/0Deepak Chopra’s Top Tips to Reduce Stresshttp://awomanshealth.com/deepak-chopras-top-tips-to-reduce-stress/
http://awomanshealth.com/deepak-chopras-top-tips-to-reduce-stress/#respondFri, 12 May 2017 06:01:38 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=13490By Katie Morell Think back to the last day you did not make a to-do list. Are you at a loss? If so, you are like most women: perpetually busy and often stressed. “Stress is an issue for women; they are struggling with more than one career,” says Deepak Chopra, MD, world-renown author, internal medicine […]

Think back to the last day you did not make a to-do list. Are you at a loss? If so, you are like most women: perpetually busy and often stressed.

“Stress is an issue for women; they are struggling with more than one career,” says Deepak Chopra, MD, world-renown author, internal medicine specialist, and teacher of meditation and well-being techniques. “Motherhood is a profession, and many women are forced to have another career on top of it.”

But life need not be stressful, he says. It is all in how you handle it. Dr. Chopra gives the example of ocean waves: “If you are a skilled surfer, every wave could be a joy. If you are not prepared, every wave could be a disaster.”

Here are Dr. Chopra’s top three tips for handing the stresses (or waves) in your life.

Focus On One Thing At A Time. Our conscious brain is not able to multitask, he says. It is only our automatic nervous system that can do multiple things at once—equalize hormone levels, pump blood to the heart, and stabilize blood pressure.“If, right now, you are talking to me and checking your iPhone at the same time, you are really doing neither,” he says.As an everyday technique for reducing stress, Dr. Chopra divides his days into buckets: sleep time, exercise time, family time, work time, playtime, meditation time, and so on. From there he dedicates himself to only one task at a time. Feelings of stress surface when you think of everything you need to do—a way of living that disrupts your psychology. Instead focus on one thing only. Then move on.

To Live “Mindfully and Consciously,” says Dr. Chopra, humans need to take time to S.T.O.P. He uses the word as an acronym: S—stop what you are doing; T—take a few deep breaths; O—observe your body and smile; P—proceed with kindness and compassion.“Even if the phone rings, don’t pick it up right away,” he advises. “Stop, take a few deep breaths, and proceed with kindness and compassion. The person on the other line will feel it.”

Take 20 Minutes For Yourself. For many of us, the word meditation fills our minds with self-deprecating questions like, What if I can’t relax? and What if I’m not doing it right? Chopra answers these concerns by suggesting that one sit quietly, without an agenda, for 15 or 20 minutes.He says, “Your mind will get restless in that time, but after a while it will quiet down and you will relax.”

Katie Morell is passionate about issues relating to women’s health and wellness. As a runner and yoga practitioner, she tries to live by the advice given in her Go Red pieces. When not lacing up her sneakers or doing a downward-facing dog, she is writing for a variety of publications, including Hemispheres, USA Today, Consumer’s Digest, and The Writer.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/deepak-chopras-top-tips-to-reduce-stress/feed/0When Chores Become a Chorehttp://awomanshealth.com/when-chores-become-a-chore/
http://awomanshealth.com/when-chores-become-a-chore/#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 17:33:42 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17593Transform your interaction around family chores by reinforcing your kids’ behavior. By Shir Zion, MA If You’re a Parent, you’ve no doubt experienced it: the endless battles and excuses that arise when children are asked to do their chores. Many parents claim that their children don’t complete these tasks because they’re “lazy,” “rude,” or “just […]

If You’re a Parent, you’ve no doubt experienced it: the endless battles and excuses that arise when children are asked to do their chores. Many parents claim that their children don’t complete these tasks because they’re “lazy,” “rude,” or “just don’t listen.” But what if I told you that your children are actually resisting because they aren’t motivated by positive reinforcement?

Let’s look at an example that you may be able to relate to. Let’s say you pack your lunch every day. Why do you do that? Maybe it’s because you’ve experienced a situation in the past when you were hungry during your lunch break and didn’t have anything to eat. As you might imagine, this experience can be quite unpleasant, so the next day you prepare a yummy lunch in an effort to avoid that same feeling. Lo and behold, when hunger strikes that day, you have a tasty meal at your fingertips. Benefiting from a satisfying meal has positively reinforced your behavior of packing your lunch.

There’s no doubt that it can be frustrating when your child resists your calls to help out at home. You may feel that your son or daughter doesn’t respect you or even love you. Rest assured that this is not the case. It’s not a personal affront; rather the behavior is the result of two very important variables: the current environment and learned history.

What does that mean? Let’s say you grew up in a family with a certain rich, ethnic heritage. It’s very likely that you, as a child, learned to appreciate the different facets of that environment, which may have included specific foods, smells, mannerisms, religious beliefs, and so on. As a result, your current behavior, which includes steps you take to honor and engage in that cultural tradition, is a product of your environment and the experiences you have gained.

So, how do you change the environment you are establishing for your own child and begin reinforcing the behavior of task completion?

To identify reinforcers that will motivate your child, you first need to understand what they will respond to in a positive way—what passions and interests will inspire action. These can be play, edible, tangible (toy, iPad, bike), attention-based (physical affection, story time, focused conversation), or escape (alone time) preferences. To do this, you’re going to become a bit of a detective.

Pay close attention: what does your child gravitate toward when given the freedom to choose an activity or reward; what inspires a smile, a thank-you, a sense of satisfaction? With this information in mind, you can use these observations to transform interactions around chores.

Put the Information to Work

To understand how you can put your newfound awareness of your child’s preferences to work, consider how motivation played out in the lunch-packing example. Really, it’s a scenario that reflects deprivation and satiation: your deprivation of food was what led to your uncomfortable, hungry feeling during lunch; this feeling prompted your decision to pack a meal for the following day. Your food-packing behavior was reinforced by the satiation you experienced—you had learned your lesson.

Now let’s apply these principles to your child.

Before you put your detective work to use by using your child’s preferred activities or toys as positive reinforcers, take a look at how they are engaging with these things or participating in these experiences right now. If time spent on the iPad is the favorite activity, do you currently allow your child free reign with the device—not contingent on the completion of homework or chores? If so, that will need to change. If he or she is already allowed to spend unlimited time on their favorite device, it won’t be a motivating factor to inspire the child to do his or her chores.

Deciding to establish a new normal— in this case, denying access to the iPad until a specific chore is complete—will likely be tough initially. Your child may be angry or sad about this new arrangement; after all, the iPad is the preferred activity. And, yes, there might be a few tantrums in the early days; but know that this is temporary, and don’t give in. If you’re consistent and do not respond to the emotional outbursts, your child will get used to the new arrangement and will start complying with your requests.

When it becomes clear that you will allow access to the iPad (or whatever reinforcer is most relevant to your child) as a reward for the appropriate behavior of completing a chore—as well as give ample verbal praise and gratitude for the help—the rewards of this plan will be clear.

Understanding your child’s behaviors, preferences, and motivating factors can go a long way toward encouraging appropriate behaviors at home. Give it a try and see how you can transform other interactions with your kids to decrease tension around other behaviors, as well.

Shir Zion, MA, has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is the director of family services for Cognition Builders, an education- based company that designs individualized home-based educational programs that address the idiosyncratic needs of clients and their families through a comprehensive program, which includes the implementation of an award-winning curriculum. Shir works with clients and family architects around the globe via Skype and in person to help foster their progress. In her personal life, she is an avid reader, moviegoer, and photographer. She also loves traveling and learning about new cultures.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/when-chores-become-a-chore/feed/0Pivot Toward the Positivehttp://awomanshealth.com/pivot-toward-positive/
http://awomanshealth.com/pivot-toward-positive/#respondFri, 30 Dec 2016 22:09:12 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17588Responding to a negative attitude by asking a simple question might yield surprising results. By Denise King Gillingham, LMSW, ACC, CPM My father is 90 years old, drives a car, and lives independently. As a World War II veteran and someone who lived through the Great Depression— among other significant experiences—he has strong opinions. He […]

My father is 90 years old, drives a car, and lives independently. As a World War II veteran and someone who lived through the Great Depression— among other significant experiences—he has strong opinions. He does and says as he pleases, often without caring much about the reactions his responses evoke. This can lead to challenging, sometimes awkward situations. Enter my teenage daughters, who care very much about what people think, and you have the ingredients for a potentially challenging social dynamic.

Recently, a situation that highlighted all of these players and feelings provided me with the opportunity to see the power we all have to transform our interaction with people by replacing challenge and negativity with curiosity. Here’s my story.

A man who lives in my father’s apartment building has a parking space parallel to my father’s. A few months ago, the man began parking his car so that it extended out into the main area of the garage, making parking difficult for my father and other residents. My father reacted to what he felt was disrespectful behavior by behaving in an unfriendly way whenever he saw his neighbor. The situation deteriorated enough that my daughters did not want to ride in the elevator or walk in the hallway with the man. This scenario continued for months.

One evening, as my family walked through the garage on the way to my father’s apartment and saw his neighbor, I got curious. I walked up to the man and asked him why he parked his car the way he does. What followed amazed me. He told me that he disliked my father because he wrote a letter to the building manager in which he complained about how this man parks. I continued to listen, though I doubted this letter existed, as I usually wrote letters on my father’s behalf. He then told me that he can’t afford to lose his parking place because he has a son who is disabled and requires a wheelchair. I told him that I was very sorry about his son. He then said he would see what he could do about how he parks. I again told him that I was sorry about his son, and we parted ways.

From that day forward, he has parked his car in the appropriate manner, he waves at our family when he sees us, and we all speak comfortably.

The encounter, and the behavior change that followed, made me consider how transformative an open, honest dialogue can be. By speaking openly, our perspective shifted; we learned that this neighbor is not a nasty man but rather a parent who looks after his disabled adult child. Equally important, I was able to model kind, appropriate behavior for my daughters— and for my father. The shift has been significant; anger has been replaced by joy and the understanding that significant behavior change can happen in an instant. All it takes is curiosity and speaking from the heart without judgment. (If this isn’t clear, think about how a six-year-old asks about something she doesn’t understand.)

This story has a very satisfying ending. We all enjoy our interactions with this man and are so pleased about how the relationship has evolved.

What small changes can make a big difference in your own interpersonal encounters?

Get Curious.

I was curious and asked a direct, open-ended question—no judgment, no attitude. When you operate “from the heart,” with curiosity and without judgment, it is hard for someone to be angry or hostile with you. Sometimes we use judgmental words that have a negative effect, and we don’t realize their impact. If you are interested in exploring this further, look into the work of Marshall Rosenberg, the “father of nonviolent communication.”

Be Open to Other Possibilities.

Listen. The story would have had a very different ending if I had told the man that he was parking horribly and annoying everyone in the garage. What can you do to be more open to someone else’s story?

Think About the Behavior You Are Modeling.

We often take for granted our power and how we influence others. As a parent, every word and action is seen. Children learn what they live. Do I want my children to learn to be peaceful or angry? Think about who and what motivates your behavior.

My guess is that all of us have stories similar to this one. When was the last time you felt the brunt of someone’s anger or disrespect, whether word or deed? How did you react? Next time, before you respond, ask yourself: What battle are they fighting? Think about what would be different if instead of anticipating a negative interaction you took the initiative and asked the person how her day was going? You might be surprised, and you might not. Either way, you have done a good thing by being open and trying to help someone else. In these turbulent times, adding a little more positivity into the universe can be a powerful step. It may come back in a surprising way.

Denise King Gillingham, LMSW, ACC, CPM, is a certified coach and mediator. Denise creates and facilitates workshops for corporations and organizations throughout the United States and Europe. Her areas of expertise include social and emotional intelligence and relationship coaching. Her coaching clients span all corners of the globe and all walks of life, from the international business executive to the stay-at-home parent. She received her MSW degree from Columbia University and has worked as a family therapist at The Paine Whitney Clinic in New York. She has also been a substance abuse therapist at the Bronx VA Medical Center in New York and had a private therapy practice in Prague, Czech Republic. Prior to receiving her MSW, Denise held various leadership roles in the financial services industry. Contact Denise at dkgcoaching.com.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/pivot-toward-positive/feed/0Does a Prayer a Day Keep Illness at Bay?http://awomanshealth.com/does-a-prayer-a-day-keep-illness-at-bay/
http://awomanshealth.com/does-a-prayer-a-day-keep-illness-at-bay/#respondFri, 30 Dec 2016 21:14:24 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17544Research into the impact of religious and spiritual beliefs on our health continues. By John Leifer When we are sick, we rely on our physicians to heal us. And for good reason: they possess the knowledge, tools, drugs, and procedures to conquer many maladies. But not all illnesses respond to the ministrations of modern medicine, […]

]]>Research into the impact of religious and spiritual beliefs on our health continues.

By John Leifer

When we are sick, we rely on our physicians to heal us. And for good reason: they possess the knowledge, tools, drugs, and procedures to conquer many maladies. But not all illnesses respond to the ministrations of modern medicine, as many of us learn with the passage of time.

As we age, virtually all of us will be afflicted with one or more chronic diseases, some of which can be quite devastating. Cancer, once considered an acute disease, now often falls within this category. If good fortune prevails, medicine will control the progression of the disease. If not, we hope it will at least provide us with a modicum of comfort.

But medicine is not omnipotent, which is why, for some patients, healing is not the sole province of doctors. Those patients turn to their religious and spiritual beliefs in the hope that solace and, perhaps, healing will be found there. But do such beliefs—and the accompanying prayers, spiritual self-examination, and other practices—truly make a difference in the trajectory of our health?

If longevity and reduced mortality are the ultimate proxy for health, the jury may be out on that question. More than two dozen studies have revealed a correlation between how long we live and the degree to which we regularly attend religious services.1

According to researchers Doug Oman and Carl “One of the most thorough of these studies, an eight year follow-up of more than 20,000 adults representative of the US population, found a life expectancy gap of over seven years between persons never attending services and those attending more than once weekly.”1 The correlation between religious attendance and longevity is so strong that even the National Institutes of Health acknowledge it.2

But it is not just the length of our lives that may be affected by our spirituality or religious beliefs; it is also the quality of our lives. Researchers have found strong correlations between our beliefs and our ability to maintain hope, derive meaning and purpose, and maintain critically important relationships during times of great adversity.

It is important to note that our beliefs can also have an adverse effect on health, as was powerfully demonstrated in a study of HIV patients by Gail Ironson and colleagues. Ironson sought to determine the impact of both positive and negative views of God on the progression of this devastating disease.

Ironson’s results were tied to two clinical indicators of disease progression: CD4 cells (an important component of one’s immune system) and the viral load (the amount of active virus circulating in the patients’ bloodstreams). Ironson’s findings: “Those who viewed God as merciful/benevolent/forgiving had five times better preservation of CD4 cells than those who did not view God positively. Those who viewed God as harsh/judgmental/ punishing lost CD4 cells at more than twice the rate of those who did not view God negatively.”3

Such conclusions are powerful and provocative, yet many scientists remain skeptical about the relationship between religious beliefs/ spirituality and health. It’s not that they refute their colleagues’ findings, assuming that the research is methodologically sound; rather they raise important questions regarding the interpretation of those findings and the attribution of positive benefits to religion and spirituality.

Part of this skepticism comes from a well-founded distrust of the words religion and spirituality because there is no universally agreed upon definition of the terms. For some people these words communicate a profound and personal relationship with God, whereas for others they communicate a more agnostic outlook on life, where one’s sense of spirituality is derived from community. With such disparity it is understandably difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the influence of religion and spirituality on health.

Beyond semantics looms another important issue: Are there discernible mechanisms at work, underlying religious and spiritual beliefs, that impact health outcomes? Oman and Thoresen offer four such mechanisms1 that may be responsible for improved health and well-being:

Social support. There is vast evidence supporting the power of social connection in fostering health and well-being. Faith and religious organizations form the very heart of the social network for many people. Thus religion/spirituality brings social connectedness, which is essential to health.

Psychological states. Oman and Thoresen suggest that religious beliefs/spirituality may contribute to a heightened sense of emotional or psychological well-being—whether through elevated levels of positive affect, such as joy and hope, or reduced levels of negative emotional states, such as despair.

Psi influences. Psi in parapsychology refers to phenomena that cannot be explained using conventional rules of science. Mystical or transcendental experiences, synchronicity, and other phenomena fall into this category. Because we are unable to explain, measure, or replicate these phenomena, they remain largely outside the realm of scientific investigation.

So what should you take away from this research-oriented discussion?

Empirical research is important, but each of us will approach our health and well-being in a very personal way. Some of us will primarily turn inward, with our focus on how health issues change our sense of self and perhaps our direction in life. For others the journey will be more outwardly focused, emphasizing the importance of personal relationships in helping us cope with whatever health issues arise. Others will ultimately look upward, to God and their relationship with Him.4

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/does-a-prayer-a-day-keep-illness-at-bay/feed/0Life Coach: What Can You Learn from a Lobster?http://awomanshealth.com/life-coach-what-can-you-learn-from-a-lobster/
http://awomanshealth.com/life-coach-what-can-you-learn-from-a-lobster/#respondFri, 07 Oct 2016 15:36:39 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17214By Denise King Gillingham, LMSW, ACC, CPM A lobster? Really? Hang in with me here. We’re going to get somewhere with this. LOBSTERS NEVER STOP GROWING. They spend their lives in a continual cycle of developing and shedding their hard, inflexible shell to accommodate their expanding size. At each stage of growth, when they shed […]

A lobster? Really? Hang in with me here. We’re going to get somewhere with this.

LOBSTERS NEVER STOP GROWING. They spend their lives in a continual cycle of developing and shedding their hard, inflexible shell to accommodate their expanding size. At each stage of growth, when they shed their confining, smaller shell, they are ex­posed and vulnerable, as their soft underlying shell goes through the process of hardening.

During this growth stretch, the lobster has to find a safe place to be because the soft shell increases its vul­nerability to predators. At the same time, the lobster is also doing things to harden the new shell, like eating some of the old shell (for the calcium) and absorbing water.

Now let’s think about what it might be like if hu­mans took a similar, practical approach to the stress of shedding and growing. What if we were able to ac­knowledge the stress of this continual cycle and prac­tice self-care—to sit quietly with our stress to recover and grow?

Instead most of us find stress difficult to sit with. We want the uncomfortable feelings gone—and the faster the better. Instead of dealing with the underlying issue, a common tactic is ignoring, minimizing, or suppress­ing it. While this approach works in the short term, feelings that aren’t dealt with have a way of coming back later in a more intense, unpredictable way—some­times in the form of physical illness.

Here is where a shift in perspective might be worth exploring. Let’s look at what might be possible if we deal with our feelings like a lobster. When the shell no longer fits, the lobster takes that information and figures out what to do next.

To put this to work in your own life, think about a stressor you’re confronting. Ask yourself where you need to shift, grow, or change. What information is the stress giving you? What is in your power to change? We have no control of what happens to us, but we have a choice about how we deal with it.

Let’s explore a scenario: Your boss, whom you really like and get along with well, was promoted, and you now have a new boss who seems aloof. This is creating stress for you. You don’t like coming to work the way you used to. Explore your feelings around this. Get to the root of the issue. Are you projecting your feeling of loss and disappointment onto the new boss? Will you hold on to the feelings of wishing that your old boss was back and adopt the feeling that the new person doesn’t like you because she is not friendly? If so, you will be restricted by the inflexibility of that “shell.”

Or will you shed the confines of that old shell, wel­come the new person, and, perhaps, try to put yourself in her place? Be conscious of how you are choosing to act around her. Your actions are the building blocks of your new relationship. What kind of foundation do you want to establish? How are your actions and reac­tions showing her how to treat you? How do you want it to be? While shedding the old, comfortable shell of your past relationship with your former boss and the work environment she created might be uncomfortable at first, allowing yourself to sit with the vulnerability of a new relationship and develop a positive connec­tion with your new boss will allow for a much happier, healthier long-term scenario.

Sometimes the cause of stress is not so easy to pin­point. Our metaphorical shell might not present itself to us so directly. If that’s the case for you, keep think­ing about what information the stress is giving you to find the root cause of your stress. There are some pro­active steps you can engage in to help you identify the cause of your stress:

Journaling can be very helpful and revealing. Grab a notebook and simply allow yourself to write with­out considering grammar and structure; get your thoughts and worries and emotions down on paper. Take a look at what you’ve written and see if the act of putting pen to paper has provided release or revealed any causes of stress from which you might be able to learn.

Exercise can work well, too. Many people report having an aha moment during a run or swim.

Creative expression can also be helpful. This does not have to be complicated. Grab a box of crayons and some paper. Start drawing whatever comes to mind. The drawing is for you—you don’t have to show it to anyone. Take a look at what you drew. What colors did you use? What is the drawing say­ing about what you are feeling and what needs to change?

During this process, take some time to create your “safe place.” Where will you feel secure and comfort­able as your new shell is hardening? This might be a physical place, or maybe it is a place in your mind that you can access when you need to. What tools do you need to put in place to keep yourself safe? Does medita­tion or using positive affirmations work for you?

And, finally, what do you need to do to harden your new shell? Give some thought to the self-care that will allow you to feel strong and resilient during this period of transition. Pay attention to the foods that nourish you, to the movement you can do to release physical stress, and to any other nurturing activities you can engage in during this time. Ask yourself, What is essential for me now to become stronger?

Congratulations. You are on your way. Be aware that you are trying something new. Be kind to yourself. When you have a setback, instead of beating yourself up, ask yourself, How can I do it differently next time? Understand that this is just one transition in a life of continual growth and know that you are just where you need to be.

Denise King Gillingham, LMSW, ACC, CPM, is a cer­tified coach and mediator. Denise creates and facilitates workshops for corporations and organizations throughout the United States and Europe. Her areas of ex­pertise include social and emotional intelligence and relationship coaching. Her coaching clients span all corners of the globe and all walks of life, from the international business executive to the stay-at-home parent. She received her MSW de­gree from Columbia University and has worked as a family therapist at The Paine Whitney Clin­ic in New York. She has also been a substance abuse therapist at the Bronx VA Medical Center in New York and had a private therapy practice in Prague, Czech Republic. Prior to receiving her MSW, Denise held various leadership roles in the financial services industry. Contact Denise at dkgcoaching.com.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/life-coach-what-can-you-learn-from-a-lobster/feed/0Finding Balance: From Virtual Reality to Actual Realityhttp://awomanshealth.com/finding-balance-from-virtual-reality-to-actual-reality/
http://awomanshealth.com/finding-balance-from-virtual-reality-to-actual-reality/#respondFri, 07 Oct 2016 15:36:39 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17216Help your kids move away from the screen and immerse themselves in their tangible surroundings to thrive. By Sarah Shaw Lopano, MED, BCBA I don’t know a single parent who doesn’t want to see their child fully engaged and moti­vated to embrace life. For some that goal may be aca­demic excellence or a lofty career […]

]]>Help your kids move away from the screen and immerse themselves in their tangible surroundings to thrive.

By Sarah Shaw Lopano, MED, BCBA

I don’t know a single parent who doesn’t want to see their child fully engaged and moti­vated to embrace life. For some that goal may be aca­demic excellence or a lofty career aspiration; for others the vision is one of spiritual engagement and philanthropic involvement. Ultimately, the goal for many fami­lies is for a child to know the fulfill­ment that comes of a well-rounded, healthy life—wherever the child finds achievement and success, they find happiness.

Often parents can feel that their hopes for their children’s success dim when they walk in the door for the umpteenth day in a row to find their son or daughter sitting on the couch in the midst of yet another Netflix binge. Although the child goes to school and is doing fine in classes, 3 p.m. finds them repeatedly falling back into the habit of screen-time stagnation.

Not only is this scene heartbreak­ing for a parent because it indicates a lack of productivity but it can also predict poor long-term outcomes for developing children and teens. Too much screen time, whether on a gaming monitor, iPhone, laptop, or TV, correlates to decreased atten­tion span and negative effects on learning. Of course, these devices are almost essential in our society, and I’m not suggesting that they are all bad. Kids’ brains aren’t wired to self-regulate, however, which means overuse is common and par­ents need to step in.

The first thing you can do as a parent is set a good example. Many kids indicate that their parents spend excessive amounts of time on their phones and computers. You have a demanding job with nonstop e-mails and have to stay in touch with your always-active family—I get it. But your kids are paying more attention than you think and imitating your behavior. As often as you can, set the phone down and be present with your kids. Don’t bring your phone to the dinner table and always carve time out of your day to be “unplugged.”

Now that you’re managing your own screen time a little better, how do you manage it for your kids? Rules and regulations surrounding screen time are important, but the best thing you can do is get them busy and active. It will leave less downtime for screens and develop personal interests that supersede the newest Xbox game. Here are a few ways to put this into practice:

Develop hobbies. The best way to get your child away from a screen is to develop an interest in some­thing else. Hobbies look very different throughout the span of childhood. It may mean sign­ing up your tot for finger-paint­ing classes, spending time at the library, and taking them to gym­nastics. For your sports-obsessed teen, it may mean requiring that they sign up for at least one extra­curricular activity in the arts. While it will differ from child to child, the goal should always be to expand their interests to develop a more-rounded sense of self and to get them out in the community as much as possible.

Encourage friendships. Kids often use screens to avoid social interaction due to a lack of social skills; in turn, too much screen time decreases the opportunities to develop those skills. To combat this cycle, parents should encour­age the healthy development of friendships throughout child­hood. This may mean coordinat­ing consistent playdates, encour­aging your teen to invite a friend over for dinner and a movie, or establishing a carpool with neighborhood kids. Whatever it may look like for your child, it is essential to support interactions with peers on a regular basis to allow them the necessary time to develop friendships and inter­personal skills that will stave off screen time.

Socialize together. A problem I see often in my line of work is the parent vs. child dynamic. All interactions are a constant battle and power struggle. Ulti­mately, kids don’t want to hang out with their parents, and it’s often because they don’t have any common ground. One easy way to build a healthier and happier relationship is to stop resorting to simply talking about your day. If your kids are old enough, bring an interesting New York Times article to the table each night and discuss it. This allows for sophis­ticated conversations and devel­ops personal opinions and an understanding of the world that will take your child far in life.

Establish chores. Give your child both daily and weekly chores to complete. Chores teach kids the value of hard work, life skills, and responsibility for themselves and others. They also require time management and help estab­lish a routine that will take away from screen time. With that said, simply asking your child to do chores is not enough. It is important to have a consistent set of expectations that make it clear to your child what you want each completed chore to look like and what will happen if the child does not comply—and then stick to the plan! Be consistent in your expectations and consequences. Finally, hold a weekly family meeting to discuss any concerns you or your child may have about their household responsibilities.

Once your child has established interests outside the home, devel­ops appropriate skills through friendships and familial relation­ships, and is managing household responsibilities, you will see that their interest and availability for screen time will be diminished. You can avoid those screaming matches about the hours spent on Facebook and focus your relationship with your child on helping them achieve in all areas of life.

Sarah Shaw Lopano, MEd, BCBA, is a board-certified behavior ana­lyst and the assistant clinical director for Cognition Builders, an education-based company that designs individualized home-based educational programs that address the idiosyncratic needs of clients and their families through a comprehensive program, which includes the implementation of an award-winning curriculum. Sarah works with clients around the globe via Skype and in person to help create balance and stability in their lives. In her personal life, she is an avid CrossFitter and lover of anything containing squash.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/finding-balance-from-virtual-reality-to-actual-reality/feed/07 Ways Gardening Is an Exercise in Mindfulnesshttp://awomanshealth.com/7-ways-gardening-is-an-exercise-in-mindfulness/
http://awomanshealth.com/7-ways-gardening-is-an-exercise-in-mindfulness/#respondFri, 07 Oct 2016 15:36:39 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17218By Martha Brettschneider Have you ever wondered why your first glimpse of a patch of crocuses each spring elicits happiness? Whether or not we have a garden of our own, something in our DNA draws us to flowers. The connec­tion goes beyond appreciating the surface beauty of the blossom. The very act of connecting with […]

Have you ever wondered why your first glimpse of a patch of crocuses each spring elicits happiness?

Whether or not we have a garden of our own, something in our DNA draws us to flowers. The connec­tion goes beyond appreciating the surface beauty of the blossom. The very act of connecting with flowers and other plants instills a sense of calm and inner peace that boosts our overall happiness levels.

Science backs up the Chinese proverb that tells us If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener. Research shows that people who spend time cultivating plants experience less stress, have a more positive outlook on life, and are healthier both phys­ically and mentally.1

Having led a highly nomadic life during my first 30 years, I was a late bloomer when it came to learning the happiness bene­fits of gardening. Once I settled down 20 years ago (not without some resistance, I might add), my garden became my first mind­fulness mentor—long before I had ever heard the term.

Read on to learn how time in the garden can lead to mindfulness—and, in my experience, happiness.

Gardening grounds us in the present moment. The sensory experience of garden­ing—working the soil, feeling the breeze on our cheeks, inhaling the fragrance of a rose, experiencing the strain in our muscles as we lift a shov­elful of dirt, tasting a freshly plucked berry—keeps the gardener grounded in the present moment. Worries about the future or the past dissolve in an instant while digging in the dirt. The garden channels all energy into the here and now, the only place where anything real happens.

Gardening connects us to the source of cre­ation. By cultivating new growth and beauty in the environment and helping the earth de­liver its gifts, we are acting in alignment with the big-picture plan of the universe. The earth rewards us for paying attention to its needs. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Earth laughs in flowers.”

Gardening—and maintaining a compost pile in particular—teaches us that beauty will eventually arise from the muck. This is a good lesson to hold in your heart in the midst of dark times. You might be bogged down in a life situation that feels like a slimy mix of coffee grounds, vegetable skins, and rotting leaves, but with time, patience, and self-reflection, positive trans­formation occurs.

Gardening teaches us how to weed out nonbeneficial plants to make room for new growth of our choosing in much the same way that mindfulness teaches us to weed out non­beneficial thoughts that don’t serve us. Each practice supports the other, resulting in a flourishing of our internal and external gardens.

Gardening nurtures creativity. Color, texture, and form are the paintbrushes in landscape design. But gardening’s creativity benefits extend beyond the flower border; by engaging our senses, gardening pulls us into the creative space of the right brain. The quieter, more spacious mind that gar­dening cultivates prepares fertile ground for creative ideas and problem solving to take root and reach for the sun. The universe wants us to create!

Gardening teaches us to let go of our need for control. My favorite garden writer, Marga­ret Roach, sums it up best in The Backyard Parables: “As I often remind myself and any­one listening, there is one thing I know with certainty about gardening after 30 years of study and practice: Things will die.” Gardeners learn to accept imperma­nence with the knowledge that spring will return one day without fail.

Gardening teaches us that even on rainy days focusing in on the details unveils sparkling, unexpected beauty. And without that rain, growth is impossible.

No matter how many teachers I follow, no matter how many books I read, the garden has always offered up life’s most important lessons in happiness. It has taught me patience, to let go of the need to control, to let go of expectations.

The garden is a place of and for trans­formation. Most importantly, the garden has taught me that a quiet mind is a calm, content, and aware mind, open to hearing the messages whispered from the uni­verse to our hearts. And from that place, our sense of purpose arises.

Martha Brettschneider is an author, blogger, speaker, mas­ter gardener, and award-winning photographer. In 2009 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which reoriented her perception of body, mind, and spirit. A former international economist, Brettschneider transformed from a left-brained businesswoman to a meditation-touting creative finally at peace with the world. She chronicles her journey in her debut book Blooming into Mindfulness: How the Universe Used a Garden, Cancer, and Carpools to Teach Me That Calm Is the New Happy (Damselwings Press, 2016; $14.95). She lives in Virginia with her husband, two sons, and her plant-eating golden retriever, Apollo (who has taught her the art of letting go). Connect with Martha on her website, marthabrettschnei­der.com, or on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

]]>http://awomanshealth.com/7-ways-gardening-is-an-exercise-in-mindfulness/feed/0The Power in the Pivothttp://awomanshealth.com/the-power-in-the-pivot/
http://awomanshealth.com/the-power-in-the-pivot/#respondFri, 07 Oct 2016 15:36:39 +0000http://awomanshealth.com/?p=17220Rewriting your personal narrative at midlife takes courage, but the rewards are worth the challenge. By Gay Kenney Browne The desire to make a piv­ot in one’s life can be in­spired by a wide variety of experiences and emotions. For many of us, the ability to take that first step toward a new direc­tion—to try […]

]]>Rewriting your personal narrative at midlife takes courage, but the rewards are worth the challenge.

By Gay Kenney Browne

The desire to make a piv­ot in one’s life can be in­spired by a wide variety of experiences and emotions. For many of us, the ability to take that first step toward a new direc­tion—to try something new, to be willing to fail, to reach for happi­ness—can lead to unsettling ques­tions and challenges to our sense of self: Will I be good enough? Am I smart enough? Will I fail?

In my case, the inspiration to launch my life in a new direction sprang from a frightening place: I had a cancer scare. Fortunately, it was only a scare, but that experi­ence ignited within me a strong urge to reassess everything about my life: how I was spending my time— and with whom—and how I would engage my passions and pursue my purpose for the now more-real no­tion of the “limited years” ahead.

In the midst of this period of eval­uation, as I considered what shape I wanted my life to take, I had a transformative conversation—one that would make me aware of the ability that we all have to manifest opportunity in our lives.

As my sister-in-law, Carol, a dear and caring friend who had been with me through the unsettling ar­ray of tests, appointments, and de­cisions related to my cancer scare, listened to me describe my shifting perspective and passions one day, she reminded me of a mutual friend who had attended (and loved) a program at Harvard Business School called the Advanced Leader­ship Initiative (ALI). The program was created as an additional educa­tional opportunity—a “third stage in higher education designed to pre­pare experienced leaders to take on new challenges in the social sector where they potentially can make an even greater societal impact than they did in their careers.”

Carol’s mention of the program, and the curiosity and commitment it inspired in me, would be the cat­alyst that would change my trajec­tory: I had found the next creative step on my life’s path.

From Inspiration to Transformation

As the founder of Greenopia, a com­pany I created 10 years ago to keep toxins out of people’s daily lives by providing them with a list of green businesses in their community that both offer eco-friendly purchases and have good sustainable business practices, I had some experience putting my passion to work to ad­dress change in world—but I hadn’t yet sufficiently addressed my inner life. I was doing good things for other people but not so much for myself. Attending the ALI program would allow me a year of reflec­tion, a chance to understand how I wanted to respond to the questions that had occupied my mind after my wake-up call.

But as I considered the steps I would need to take to apply to the program, I experienced self-doubt. There’s no way Harvard will admit me, I thought. I graduated from a small southern women’s college that most people haven’t heard of. How would I compete?

A second conversation, this one with my mother, would provide with me the courage I needed to take the next step. As we chatted one evening, I floated the idea of leaving the family for a year and ap­plying to the program. To my sur­prise, mom reminded me that at age 50 she had gone back to college to complete her degree in early child­hood education, with my youngest brother still at home. Having been raised during the Depression, her dad had not been a supporter of women’s education, and, as a result, she had become a flight attendant, married my dad, and never finished college. Earning that degree at mid­life gave her the confidence to go on to build and operate her own business, one she successfully sold years later. She was a powerful role model whose drive and success had an extraordinary impact on us, her children.

With Mom’s story running through my head, I found clarity: I was now sure that going back to school would expand my skills and transform my life. I opened up my laptop and began the application process, thinking that it was time I found the answer to my questions. Little did I know that the applica­tion process itself would be the first and most significant hurdle.

Hurry Up and Wait

After more than 30 years of paid and volunteer jobs, I thought I had a decent amount of work ex­perience; so, even though I was ap­prehensive when I pushed the Send button to submit my application, I felt confident. Several weeks later I received a call from the admissions counselor, who was very kind but clear: “Mrs. Browne,” he asked, “have you ever written a résumé be­fore?” After thinking about it, I had to laugh—I had written only one résumé—and that was right out of college. Since then I had been hired out of every subsequent job by my next employer. He kindly emailed me an example of a résumé that would be presentable to the Har­vard ALI Review Board.

The next week (with help from a friend), I submitted a more accept­able résumé and was granted per­mission to write a statement of in­tent, describing why I was applying to the ALI program. Several weeks later I got another call: my CV and statement had been accepted; the final step would be an interview. Later that month, after a thorough phone interview, my application was complete. I thought, I have done all that I can; now all I can do is wait.

There isn’t a time in life that I can remember enjoying the waiting pro­cess. Whether waiting on the bench to be picked for a varsity team, waiting to be accepted into college, waiting for a baby to be born, wait­ing for a medical test—waiting is te­dious and nerve wracking, and this time was no different.

It was several months later, while visiting my mom, that the waiting game came to an end: I received a text from my husband: A FedEx package had arrived from Harvard. Did I want him to open it? I took a deep breath, looked at mom as we sat together on our favorite porch, and texted my response: “Please open it!” Minutes later his reply appeared: “Pack your bags. You’re headed to Cambridge!”

Digging Deep

I arrived in Cambridge on a Sun­day night at the end of January, two nights before the biggest snow­storm in the history of Boston. I spent the entire winter and spring tramping through piles of snow. I attended classes at the Business School, the Kennedy School, the Medical School, and the School of Education. I attended every lec­ture I could and read innumerable pages of literature covering health and wellness, green policy, and en­vironmental science, as well as the program’s core curriculum topics. My brain was in a constant state of cramp. I was in a permanent state of catch-up with e-mail. I ate most of my meals in bed at night in my sweatpants as I tried to keep warm and stay on top of my assignments.

As I read and studied and thought my way through that first term in the program, I had the opportuni­ty to engage in what would become a favorite class: Public Narrative, taught by Marshall Ganz, senior lecturer in public policy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. This course was a homerun for me, as the curriculum was created around three questions we were directed to ask ourselves and others at a time when it really mattered:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

When I am for myself alone, what am I?

If not now, when?

These questions and the intro­spection they inspired gave me the tools to become a more effective leader as I considered how I could use the strengths and weaknesses of my private narrative to relate to others. As Ganz said, “To lead is to accept responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty. We can use public narrative to link our own calling to that of our community. Learning how to tell a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now engages the head and the heart nar­rative to instruct and inspire—not only teaching us why we should act but moving us to act.”

Using Challenge to Create Change

With the completion of my final project—a book proposal on per­sonal environmental health—I grad­uated from ALI in December 2015, ready to use my new skills and expe­rience to make a difference. I began writing a blog about personal envi­ronmental health for the Huffington Post, offering insight into how the environment affects your health and well-being—through factors like the food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe, and the people with whom you interface and the stress these induce on your mind and body that affect your general physical and mental well being. I rethought the public dialogue of my company, Greenopia. I explored new strategies to get people’s atten­tion, to alert consumers as to why it has become more important than ever to pay attention to one’s per­sonal environment, preventive steps so critical in our pursuit of personal health for ourselves and our loved ones.

Armed with the knowledge, per­spective, and insights my academic and personal journey instilled in me, I am in full pursuit of my goal of creating significant, lasting social awareness for personal environ­mental health.

This story is my way of sharing my personal narrative with you. I hope it inspires you to find some­thing in your life that is worth mak­ing a pivot. So often the scariest part of pivoting is that first step—the de­cision to try something new. I feel that many of us are scared to pur­sue our real passions because we’re afraid of not making it over those early hurdles. But if we can find our way over those initial obstacles of self-doubt, we can pivot our lives to find a direction of greater meaning and purpose. Much like in skiing, golf, tennis, or any other sport that starts with initial momentum, if you take the step to enter into the turn, poised and in control, the piv­ot, form, and subsequent change in momentum will lead to a wonderful outcome.

Gay Kenney Browne is an environmen­tal advocate, a hu­manitarian, and the founder of Greeno­pia, a comprehensive guide to more than 110,000 sustainable businesses cre­ated to help consumers have a posi­tive impact on their personal health. Greenopia began as a printed city guide series for Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York and has rapidly expanded to include green businesses nationwide through the launch of Greenopia.com.